THE FEAST OF PASSOVER

THE FEAST OF PASSOVER

Passover had three particular parts to it:

1. The Feast of Passover: It shows Christ as the sacrificial Lamb, and the blood covered door,  which provides our redemption.
2. The Feast of Unleavened Bread: It shows Christ as our Unleavened Bread, who was a sinless sacrifice, broken for us that we may live a life of separation and sanctification from sin.
3. The Feast Day of the Sheaf of First fruits: It is a remarkable prophetic type of the  resurrection of the Lord Jesus, His ascension to heaven to the Father and also symbolic of the coming resurrection of all saints.

 

Christ Our Passover: 1 Corinthians 5:7-8

1. Christ our Passover

2. Let us keep the feast

 

1. THE STORY IN BRIEF – Exodus 12

Passover – (Hebrew “Pesach”) – a passing over, or to pass or hover over. A “passing over” in judgment of the death angel, but also a “hovering over” in Divine protection.  So judgment and mercy are linked in the Passover Feast. This word resembles an Egyptian word pesh, which means “to spread wings over” in order to protect.   (O Jerusalem! Jerusalem! Lk.13:34).

 

A. Passover, The Beginning of Months – Exodus 12:2

Passover became the first month of the beginning of the sacred year to the nation. So for the believer, Christ the Lamb of God becomes the beginning of one experience in God.

 

B. The Four Days of the Hidden Lamb – Exodus 12:3-6

Take a lamb on the tenth day. Set it aside until the fourteenth day of the first month to be observed closely and then slain. (v.3-“a” lamb; v.4-“the” lamb; v.5-“your lamb)

 

Antitypical Fulfillment

1. Weekly

The week of the crucifixion, Jesus entered Jerusalem on the tenth day and was slain on the fourteenth day, four days latter. (Luke 19:37; Matthew 22:15-24).

2. Dispensationally

A day with the Lord is as a thousand years and a thousand years is as one day. When Adam sinned, God set His Lamb, Jesus Christ, aside for death. From Adam to Christ we have four days of the Lord, or four thousand years. (Ps 90:4; Genesis 2:17; 2 Peter 3:8).

 

C. A Lamb of the First Year – Exodus 12:5;11:4-7;12:29-30

This signified that it was a first born. Jesus was the Firstborn of God, Firstborn of Mary, the Firstborn of God’s creation.  (Matt 1:21-25; Rev 3:14; Col 1:15,18; Ro 8:29).

 

D. A Male – Exodus 12:5

The Lamb must be a male. By one man sin entered the world. Adam, as the first male, sinned and so a male must die for sin.

 

E. Without Spot or Blemish – Exodus 12:5

The Israelites were to inspect the lamb that was to die for them. In fulfillment we see how all who inspected Jesus Christ–God’s Lamb–found Him to be perfect, without fault, without spot or blemish. Here are some who inspected God’s Lamb.

1. Pilate – John 18:28,38

2. Herod – Luke 23:8-12

3. Annas – Luke 3:2

4. Caiaphas – John 11:49-53

5. Judas – Matthew 27:3-10

6. The Centurion – Matthew 27:54

7. The repentant thief – Luke 23:39-43

 

F.  A Lamb for a House – Exodus 12:3-5

God’s will is that all would come to experience “household salvation” (Acts 16:15,31).

1. A lamb for a house – Exodus 12:3-4

2. A lamb for a nation – Exodus 29:38-42

3. A lamb for a world – John 1:29,36

a. Isaac – “Where is the lamb” (Genesis 22:7-8)

b. John the Baptist – “Behold the Lamb” (John 1:29)

 

G. Kill It In The Evening (Twilight) – Exodus 12:6 

Literally “Between The Two Evenings”

Jesus was slain “between the two evenings”. He was slain the fourteenth day at evening, as well as on the fourth day of the Lord (Mark 15:33). The hours of crucifixion, 9a.m.-3p.m. were the hours which fulfilled “between the two evenings”.

Amos foretold a day when God would cause the sun to go down at noon and thus turn their Feast into mourning (Amos 8:9-10). This was fulfilled at the crucifixion, when Jesus died on the cross between 9a.m.-3p.m. The sun was darkened at midday for 3 hours; thus from noon to the evening. This turned the Jews Feast of  Passover into mourning.

 

H. The Whole Assembly shall Kill It – Exodus 12:6

The whole congregation of Israel was involved in killing the lamb. The Gospels show how the Sanhedrin, the Priest, and the people of Israel were all involved in the crucifixion of Jesus. (John 19:15; Luke 23:23; Mark 15:33; Matthew 27:4,25).

 

I. The Blood must be Applied to the Lintel and Door Posts – Exodus 12:7,13, 22

1. Jesus was both the Lamb and the blood sprinkled door. In His death He is the Lamb, but in His resurrection He is the door.
2. BASIN – not a container but the threshold or ditch which was dug just in front of the doorways of the houses to avoid flooding.
3. Blood on the bottom, top, and sides of THE DOOR.
4. The Passover Wine was red and mixed with warm water.

 

J. The Body of the Lamb must be Eaten – Exodus 12:8-10

Both the body and blood pointed to the body and blood of Jesus, the Lamb of  God (Matt 26:26-28)

1. All eaten in one night. Cannot reject any part of Christ. Feed upon all of Him until He becomes part of our entire being.
2. Eaten with unleavened bread, no sin was in Jesus.
3. Eaten with bitter herbs. Egypt and sin are bitter bondage. Calvary was bitter.
4. Roasted with fire. Jesus must experience the sufferings of the fire of God’s holiness at Calvary.
5. Not to be sodden with water. The Gospel of Jesus is not to be “watered down”. Water-sodden meat cannot be roasted.
6. The Head, Legs, and Entrails were to be eaten. So the believer feeds on Christ’s mind (the head), the walk of Christ (the legs), the inward motives and affections of Christ (the inward parts).
7. Strength came by feasting on the lamb. Those who ate went forth without sickness. Hezekiah restored Passover and the Lord healed the people. Christians are healed through taking communion.

 

K. How the Lamb was to be Eaten – Exodus 12:11

1. In haste ready for departure from the House of  Bondage. (Heb.11:13)
2. Loins were to be girded / Loins girded about with truth.  (Eph.6:14)
3. Shoes must be on their feet/Feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace vr15.
4. Staff must be in their hand / Sword of the Spirit in their hand (Eph.6:17)

 

L. Not a Bone was to be Broken – Exodus 12:46; Psalm 34:20

In the eating of the Passover lamb, God commanded no bones to be broken. They were about to break Jesus’s bones but He was already dead  (John 19:33).

 

M. They were to be Purified from all Leaven – Exodus 12:15-20

1. Sprinkling of Blood – Justification
2. 2.   Purging of Leaven – Sanctification
3. For seven days they were to eat unleavened bread beginning Passover night.
4. The Israelites carried the unleavened bread with them as they left Egypt behind.
5. Some Christians continue to eat the leaven bread (sin) and continue to dwell in Egypt (world) while claiming to have the Blood of the Lamb.

 

N. Safety in the House  inside the Door – Exodus 12:22-24

Safety and security were conditional upon obedience, by standing inside the blood-sprinkled door and the household of faith, feeding on the Lamb. The believer’s security is to stay inside the blood-sprinkled door (Christ, John 10:9).

 

O. Spoiling the Egyptians at the Exodus – Exodus 12:31-36, 40-42

Even as the Israelites spoiled the Egyptians, so Christ spoiled principalities and powers in His triumph on the cross and the believing church partakes of these spoils won through His death (Col.2:10).

 

P. A Holy Convocation – Exodus 12:16

Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread and all other Feast days, was holy convocation, or and extra Sabbath. It is this that explains the Sabbath or High day besides the weekly Sabbath in the week of Christ’s crucifixion  (John 9:31).

 

Q. The Feast of First Fruit – Leviticus 23:11; Numbers 28:6.

This one sheaf was to be waved in the house of the Lord “on the morrow after the Sabbath”.  It is a remarkable prophecy of the resurrection day.

 

1. From the 14th day to the close of the 17th and beginning of the 18th day we have a time period of 3 days and 3 nights, counting the Hebrew reckoning of time “even to even”.
2. Failure to recognize that there were two Sabbaths in the Passover week has brought much confusion and misunderstanding as to the day of Christ’s crucifixion, as well as the day of His resurrection. It has distorted the truth of Christ’s statement concerning His being 3 days and 3 nights in the heart of the earth.
3. The unleavened bread was a High Day or extra Sabbath, and then there was the weekly Sabbath also, thus making two Sabbaths in the week of the crucifixion (Jn.19:30-31; Lk.23:50-56).
4. Because Jesus was resurrected  on the first day of the week and not the Sabbath, early believers gradually moved away from keeping the Sabbath to keeping the first day of the week (Jn.20:1; Acts 20:7; 1 Cor.16:2).

R. The Death and the Resurrection

The death and resurrection of Christ are inseparable one from the other.

1. The Lamb sets forth Christ’s death.
2. The sheaf sets forth His resurrection.
3. The Bread and the Wine sets forth the communion, in which the believer remembers Christ’s death and resurrection.

S.  The Feast Was to be Kept with much Gladness and Singing

1. The Levitical Choir chanted the Hallel, Psalm 113-118.

2. Ps. 118:25-26 – “Blessed is He that Cometh in the name of the Lord”

It is in the Lord’s Supper that the three parts of the Feast of Passover are symbolized.

Jesus established the Lord’s Supper at the time of the Passover Supper, when He Himself was about to be slain as the true Lamb of God.  This ended the old ceremony of the blood and lamb and established the new with bread and wine of His communion table.  So as Christians we must still continue to see it as Passover and not Easter.